If you’ve ever been online shopping then chances are you understand how frustrating it is when you find out the store doesn’t offer your preferred payment gateway. You’re left with no other option but to abandon your shopping cart and look elsewhere for the products.
Since the payment gateway you choose to offer on your WooCommerce store can potentially determine whether or not you make a sale, picking a winner from the get-go is essential. Thankfully, WooCommerce offers a number of compatible payment gateways that you can pair with your online store.
In this post, we’ll run the rule over five of the best payment gateways that you can use on your WooCommerce powered store and highlight their standout features. But before we begin, let’s quickly go over some factors that you should keep in mind when choosing your payment gateway.
What Are Payment Gateways?
Enabling a payment gateway on your online store is one of the fundamental steps of making transactions possible. WooCommerce makes this incredibly easy by walking you through a quick wizard and getting you setup with one of the built-in payment gateways – PayPal, bank transfers, credit cards, and cash on delivery.
In the context of an online store, a payment gateway facilitates a payment transaction by transferring information between a payment portal (such as a website or mobile phone) and the front-end processor or a bank. In simple English, it’s an e-commerce service that processes payments for online stores.
Payment gateways not only make the transaction possible but they also authorize the payments made between the customer and the retailer. Here are a few things you need to consider when choosing your payment gateway:
- WooCommerce offers both free and premium payment gateways. In addition to this, some might charge you a one-time sign-up fee, a recurring subscription fee, or transaction fees.
- Direct/Redirect. Some payment gateways require customers to enter their payment details on your website (direct) while others take the customers back to their official website (redirect) to complete the transaction.
- If you’re selling to a global audience then you’ll have to take international transactions and local currencies into account.
Now that you have a better understanding of what payment gateways are and what to look for in a payment gateway, let’s take a look at some of the best solutions for WooCommerce powered websites.
5 Best Payment Gateways for WooCommerce Stores
From an end user’s perspective, it’s important that the payment gateway you choose to offer on your WooCommerce powered website is user-friendly and secure. With this in mind, let’s take a look at some of the best payment gateway solutions out there for WooCommerce stores.
PayPal
PayPal is one of the most popular payment gateways for online stores. PayPal Standard comes right out of the box with the free WooCommerce plugin and offers a redirect payment method. However, if you’d like PayPal to handle the transaction for you and allow your customers to pay without leaving your website then PayPal Express Checkout is the best option for you.
Key Features:
- Offers in-context express checkout.
- Allows customers to pay with PayPal or any major credit/debit card.
- Allows you to accept payment in just about any currency.
- Payments are secure since they’re processed on PayPal’s servers.
Price: Free
Stripe
Stripe is a free payment gateway available for WooCommerce powered stores that allows customers to pay through multiple payment options including all major credit cards, Apple Pay, and Bitcoin. Although it doesn’t charge you any setup fee or recurring fee, you will be charged a percentage whenever you get paid.
Key Features:
- Incredibly easy to setup and configure.
- Your earnings are transferred to your bank account every seven days.
- Offers a clean, minimal checkout form to complete the transaction.
- Works with the Subscriptions extension to accept recurring payments from customers.
Price: Free
Authorize.net
Authorize.net is a premium payment gateway that comes with a hefty price tag. You’ll be charged a setup fee, a recurring fee, and transaction fees. The service lets you offer direct payments to your customers which means they won’t have to be redirected to another website to complete the transaction.
Key Features:
- Allows customers to pay with all major credit cards, PayPal, and Apple Pay.
- Offers a mobile-friendly checkout experience and detailed decline messages.
- Makes it easy for users to process refunds/voids from within WooCommerce.
- Offers a direct payment method so that customers don’t have to leave your site.
Price: $79
2Checkout
WooCommerce’s 2Checkout Inline Checkout is a premium payment gateway that automatically creates an iframe checkout option allowing your customers to make secure payments without having to leave your online store. As of this writing, 2Checkout Inline Checkout allows you to receive payments from 196 countries in 87 different currencies. Similar to Stripe, you will be charged a transaction fee.
Key Features:
- Offers a user-friendly, secure payment form.
- Allows customers to pay with all major credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal.
- Offers an on-site payment option so your customers don’t have to be redirected.
- Doesn’t charge you a setup fee or recurring fee.
Price: $79
Square
If you have a brick-and-mortar store and a WooCommerce powered store then Square just might be the best payment gateway for you. It allows you to link your Square account with your WooCommerce store to keep both of your stores connected. The only downside of this payment gateway is that it’s only available in the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, and the UK.
Key Features:
- Ideal for brick-and-mortar stores with an accompanying online store.
- Allows customers to pay with all major credit cards and Apple Pay.
- Automatically syncs your inventory from WooCommerce to Square and vice versa.
- Offers free chargeback protection (for up to $250) to users.
Price: $79
Conclusion
Having a powerful, versatile payment gateway on your WooCommerce powered store can help you deliver a better user experience and increase your likelihood of successfully completing transactions. Let’s quickly recap the main factors you should consider when choosing a payment gateway:
- If you’re looking for a cost-effective payment gateway then you’re better off going with PayPal or Stripe. The WooCommerce extensions for both options are available for free and you’re only charged a transaction fee.
- Direct/Redirect. If setting up a direct payment gateway is important then you may want to consider opting for Stripe, Authorize.net, or 2Checkout.
- Those of you who have both a brick-and-mortar store and an online store can synchronize both online and offline payments with Square. Additionally, 2Checkout allows you to receive payments from nearly 200 countries in 87 different currencies.
Hopefully, you’re in a good position now to make an informed decision about which payment gateway you should use. If you need help setting up your WooCommerce store or payment gateway you can hire WooCommerce developers to help you do the job stress-free.
Which payment gateway do you use on your WooCommerce powered store? Let us know in the comments section below!
